Speakers and abstracts
WEDNESDAY
GLORIANNE MIZZI
Glorianne was born in Malta. After graduating in European Studies from the University of Malta, she gained a Masters Degree in Diplomatic Studies. She embarked on a career in tourism and held the post of President of the Malta Union of Tourist Guides for six years. She was also a board member on the European Federation of Tourist Guide Associations and a board director on the Malta Tourism Authority. She is a lecturer on Modern European History and Tourist Guide Trainer at the Institute of Tourism Studies, and has been an active tourist guide since 1995. She has been honoured to guide Heads of State, Ministers, Diplomats and Royal envoys and equally honoured to design and conduct tours for visitors.
“AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MALTESE ISLANDS”
WILLIAM ZAMMIT
William Zammit is a full professor within the Department of Library Information and Archive Sciences at the University of Malta. His main areas of research interests are written, oral and visual communication during the early-modern period, on which he has researched and published extensively in Malta and abroad. His is also an established authority where Melitensia is concerned. Among the books he authored are Printing in Malta: 1642-1839 (Malta, 2008), Kissing the Gallows (Malta, 2016) and Slavery, Treason and Blood (Malta, 2022). He is currently involved in a number of bibliographical projects concerning Malta’s printed and manuscript material. Such pasts projects have included the preparation of the metadata required for the microfilming of the Archive of the Order of Malta and the bibliographic description of over 500 Malta maps from the Albert Ganado Collection prior to their transfer to Heritage Malta. Zammit occupied the Headship of the Department of Library Information and Archive Sciences at the University of Malta (2009–2013 and from 2015–2020). He was also appointed as the President of the Malta National Archives Council, the body legally entrusted with the care of State archival collections in Malta. He has also coordinated the first-ever taught Master’s programme in Documentary Heritage and Melitensia, launched by the University of Malta in October 2015.
“THE NATIONAL LIBRARY AND ITS COLLECTIONS“
The talk aims to provide a brief yet comprehensive overview of the various collections held at the National Library of Malta. As in the case of a good number of other national libraries in Europe and elsewhere, the library originated from private collections to which more material was added over time. Again, similar to other major national libraries, it also served as a repository of artefacts, the collection of which was to form the nucleus of the present Malta national museum collection. In the absence of a national archive, the library was also to assume the curatorship of some of the most significant archival collections on the island. The inherently European nature of Malta’s national library collections may indeed qualify it to be described as a microcosm of European written culture.
BERNADINE SCICLUNA
Bernadine Scicluna, M.A. History of Art (University of Malta), is a Principal Curator at MUŻA, The Malta National Community Art Museum (Heritage Malta). Focusing primarily on nineteenth-century art in Malta, she is also responsible for the graphic and cartographic collections. She has delivered presentations on various areas of art history and is also a visiting lecturer on nineteenth-century art in Malta at the Institute for Maltese Studies, University of Malta. Apart from contributing a number of essays on seventeenth-, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century art in Malta, she is the author of Charles Frederick de Brocktorff: Watercolours of Malta at the National Library of Malta, Volume I, published by the National Library of Malta (2007). Since 2010, she has served on the Committee of the Malta Map Society.
“MAPPING THE STATES OF A SIEGE“
The four Great Siege maps by the Venetian publisher and book dealer, Giovanni Francesco Camocio, are the main protagonists of this presentation. Issued from the same copperplate, these four maps constitute a series of prints that each represent different stages of the last few weeks of the Great Siege waged in Malta in 1565 between the Ottoman Turks and the Christian Order of St John. What is additionally interesting is that this series brings together two institutions: MUŻA, Heritage Malta, which is the custodian of three of these maps, and the Geography Department at the Charles University of Prague, Czech Republic, where the fourth map is found. This presentation shows the original purpose of these Great Siege maps, what they each visually describe, how and why their common copperplate source qualifies them as “states” and the significance they bear today in the field of cartographical history. Indeed, their cultural heritage value has won international recognition as they have, since late 2017, been inscribed in UNESCO’s International Memory of the World Register. A first for Malta, their entry into this prestigious register is included in this presentation, also because Joseph Schirò had unearthed the map in Prague in 2014, thus completing this series, and owing to the pivotal role he played in the materialisation of this honourable testimonial that these Great Siege maps now enjoy.
THURSDAY
Charles Farrugia
KATHERINE PARKER
Dr Katherine Parker is the Cartographic Collections Manager at the Royal Geographical Society in London, where she preserves, promotes, and provides access to the Society’s over one million maps, atlases, and globes. In addition, she teaches at New York University in London and is the editor of Imago Mundi: The International Journal of the History of Cartography.
“TRAVELLING TO MALTA: REPRESENTATIONS OF MALTA AND GOZO IN THE LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY”
Since its founding in 1830, the Royal Geographical Society has been a repository for maps, charts, atlases, and globes. These objects served Fellows as they planned expeditions, as well as displayed important new ideas in the nascent discipline of geography. Fellows also gave the RGS cartographic materials as evidence of their achievement or as signs of curiosity and gratitude. Today, the over one million holdings comprise one of the largest private map collections in the world, with items covering every corner of the world, including Malta. This talk will discuss the RGS’ remarkable map objects through the lens of its Malta holdings, highlighting the Society’s historical interest in and connections to the islands.
EMANUEL CHETCUTI
Emanuel Chetcuti is a retired chartered-certified accountant and certified public accountant. He is an independent researcher with a keen interest in maps of Malta printed prior to the 20th century. He has published articles in Treasures of Malta, The Journal of the Malta Map Society, Melita Historica of the Malta Historical Society, the online Journal of Maltese History of the University of Malta, the IMCOS Journal and Maps in History of The Brussels Map Circle.
“DECORATIONS AND CONVENTIONAL SIGNS IN MAPS OF MALTA“
During the sixteenth century maps started to be accompanied by artistic decorations serving as ornamental functions and which reflected the spirit of the time during which they were produced. A salient feature used in maps was the cartouche intended to include the title of the map, its maker, the dedication and a multitude of other purposes. The borders were printed around the edges of the map in simple neat lines or using decorative patterns and in other instances with panels showing figures or town views. The maps were accompanied by scales and compass roses. Scales were intended to allow the user to compute distances and were made according to the conventions of several nationalities. Maps were also accompanied with figures, monsters and ships. As early as the late fifteenth century, maps started to feature sea monsters which consisted of all the creatures seen on the surface of the sea including imaginary aquatic creatures which seafarers might have described. The assembly of actual and mythological figures represented in maps included cannibals, tritons, warriors, gods, goddesses, heroes, natives and every kind and hue. Maps were also decorated with heraldry which sometimes included the cartographer’s patron. Coats of arms connected with the country, district or town were included in order to flatter members of the nobility and gentry. The maps were embellished with vignette views and scenes adding to their charm. The lettering on maps followed typographical and calligraphic fashions usually graded according to the importance of the subjects indicated. Conventional signs were used to communicate information on maps most commonly used being those to denote terrain, such as mountains, churches, towns and villages, trees, squares, routes and other prominent locations.
This presentation is aimed at giving an overview of the decorative elements and conventional signs which have been identified in a selection of maps of Malta from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Whilst decorations are generally associated with the historical aspect and characteristic features of the island, conventional signs were also an element of the map presentation.
Ray Saliba
MARIO GAUCI
Mario Gauci is the Archivist and Director of the Mdina Cathedral Archives of Malta. He holds a Bachelor degree in Archives, Libraries and Information Studies, and a Masters in Baroque Studies, both awarded by the University of Malta. His work specialises in the management and administration of ecclesiastical archives, and he has processed significant documents of the Metropolitan Chapter of the Mdina Cathedral, the Archives of the Inquisition, and the music collections. He is also consultant archivist to the Archives of the Archdiocese, and gives occasional lectures and training to university students. He has been involved in overseeing the digitisation of diocesan archives in Malta since 2012. He has participated in local and international conferences, including ‘L’Inquisizione Romana e i suoi archivi’ organised by the Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede held at the Biblioteca del Senato della Repubblica in Rome (2018). He is co-editor, with the late Mgr John Azzopardi, of Archivum Cathedralis Melitae Fons Historiae (2018). His research and publications focus on art and architecture, social history and the archival scenario in Malta.
“THE CATHEDRAL ARCHIVES OF MALTA”
The Cathedral Archives of Malta have been one of the leading institutions which played a major role in the preservation of Maltese archives. They serve as an essential primary source for the study of these islands’ identity as manifested in important documents that shed light on ecclesiastical history, art, music, architecture, demography, and other topics related with humanistic studies. They also contain a wealth of historical information which sheds light on the European and the Mediterranean context. The archives were housed at the Cathedral Museum in the old seminary which was officially inaugurated way back in January 1969. In 2004 the archives were transferred to the present premises which is located directly across the cathedral church. The core collection of the manuscripts helps to support the historical mission and memories of the cathedral. These handwritten manuscripts were also commissioned by the Metropolitan Chapter of the Cathedral to strengthen the underlying foundations and the ministry of the cathedral as an institution. The Cathedral Archives is an Archive of Archives as it holds the most extensive collection of archival fonds on the island, second only to the national collection. Apart from the Chapters’ Archives; the two other main fonds are: the Archive of the Holy Roman Inquisition and the Archive of the Episcopal Tribunal. In addition to these, some volumes belonged to the Archive of the Order of St John, as well as thousands of original musical manuscripts which were part of the old repertoire of music performed during the liturgical ceremonies of the Mdina Cathedral which makes it one of the richest music archives in Malta and Southern Europe.
FRIDAY
Liam Gauci
KENNETH CASSAR
Kenneth Cassar holds a first degree in History of Art and a MA in Cultural Heritage Management from the University of Malta with a focus on historic house museums. He has since 2008 formed part of Heritage Malta’s Ethnography Department based at the Inquisitor’s Palace, first as curator for Costumes and Textiles and presently as Senior Curator. Between June 2019 and September 2022, Cassar was also MUŻA Senior Curator, entrusted with the arts section and collection.
“THE INQUISITOR’S PALACE – RECONSTRUCTING THE CANCELLERIA“
The Inquisitor’s Palace, found within the old maritime city of Vittoriosa (Birgu), is another former centre of power in early modern Malta, for between 1574 and 1798 it served as residence and tribunal to the Inquisitor in his dual role of supreme judge of the Holy Office and Apostolic Delegate representing the Vatican’s interests in Malta. Formerly the Magna Curia Castellania for the Order of St John, the building passed on to the Inquisition, triggering an organic growth that would spill into adjacent buildings until reaching the present footprint by the 1650s. Various Inquisitors undertook embellishment projects, and following a major scheme undertaken by Inquisitor Stoppani between 1733 and 1734, the building was transformed into a palazzo romano typical of dignitaries in Baroque Rome, and a fitting and secure administrative hub for the Inquisitorial tribunal. Any subsequent changes are mainly associated with a new use imparted by new residents. During the French interim, the palace was used as headquarters for the French commander responsible for the Cottonera district, and during the British period it is was first used as a military hospital until the 1830s when it was converted into a ‘mess-house’ and residences for officers. The Inquisitor’s Palace passed on to the Museums Department in 1926 and what followed was a ten-year restoration and refurbishing period under the direction of the then Fine Arts curator Vincenzo Bonello. He reversed many of the unceremonious British interventions, to refurnish with historic furniture and reinstate dignity to a former centre of power. During the Second World War the Inquisitor’s Palace provided shelter to the Dominican order until 1954, and in 1966 it reopened to the public as the Inquisitor’s Palace. In 1981 it was inaugurated as a Folklore Museum and in 1992 it housed an Ethnography Section. Today it is administered by Heritage Malta and although it still houses an Ethnography Section, great care is taken to strike the right balance between a historic house museum, reflecting the building’s past political importance as one of the three centres of power in early modern Malta and a National Museum of Ethnography, highlighting the impact of the Inquisition on Maltese society and the role of religion in everyday life.
JOSEPH SCHIRÒ
Joseph Schirò retired in 2014 as the head of the Conservation and Restoration Division within Heritage Malta. He is the President of the Malta Map Society and editor of the Malta Map Society Journal and President of ICOM Malta of which he was a founder member. He is a member of BMASK (Bord Maniġerjali Arkivju Storiku Katidral) and a member of the European Research Centre for Book and Paper Conservation, Austria. He was co-editor of the first festschrift in Malta Liber Amicorum Dr Albert Ganado in 1994, co-author of Andersen and Malta in 1991, Fine Bookbindings in 1999, German Malta Maps in 2011, The Brocktorff Mapmakers in 2012, Pre-Siege Maps of Malta 2nd century A.D. – 1564 in 2016 and edited the book The Island of Malta and the Order of St John by Grigory Krayevsky in 2017. He has written several articles on conservation and on cartography.
“THE SAN SALVATORE PROMONTORY“
The San Salvatore promontory is the first promontory on the port side as one enters the Grand Harbour. It took its name from a small chapel dedicated to San Salvatore or Holy Saviour. The prior of Capua, Fra Giovanni Bichi, bought a piece of land called San Salvatore and built a Villa for his own use, after his retirement. The plans of the villa were designed by the celebrated architect Lorenzo Gafa’ of Vittoriosa and the building was initiated around 1675. Later, in 1830, the villa and its grounds were converted into a naval hospital designed by Col. George Whitmore RE and Maltese architect Gaetano Xerri.
With the withdrawal of the British Forces on 31 March 1979, the hospital was converted into a trade school. On 3rd May 1999, part of the grounds was converted to The Malta Centre for Restoration (MCR). Its two main aims were the creation of state-of-the-art diagnostic and conservation laboratories where the conservation of all kinds of artefacts could be undertaken (including paintings, metals, ceramics, stone, textiles, books and works of art on paper) and the training of conservation professionals and conservation craftsmen. In 2005, changes were enacted to the Cultural Heritage Act of 2002, following which the MCR was absorbed into the national heritage agency, Heritage Malta. Their headquarters moved to Bighi and the grounds are now occupied by Heritage Malta and an Interactive Science Centre named Esplora.
SATURDAY
MARIO FARRUGIA
Born in 1967, Mario Farrugia is a military and history researcher actively involved in the fields of cultural heritage preservation and management in Malta. He founded Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, the Malta Heritage Trust in 1986. He was the prime mover behind the restoration and opening of Fort Rinella (1991) to the public. Established various military museums in Malta including the Malta at War Museum in Birgu (2002), the Malta Time-gun Museum in Valletta (2023), the Lascaris War Rooms (2009), War H.Q. Tunnels (2014) and the St. Peter’s Galleries (2019) in Valletta. Responsible for the retracing, restoration and opening to the public of Room 50 at the Lascaris Battery (2023) in Valletta where Italy formally signed the documents of surrender of its battle fleet on 13 September 1943. Restored the Saluting Battery (2004) to its original glory complete with its original armament and the firing from it of the noonday and evening guns and ceremonial salutes making it Malta’s most popular visitor attraction. Successfully pioneered the use of historical re-enactments and living history in the interpretation of historic monuments. Responsible for the establishment of FWA’s military historic collection, library and archives consisting of thousands of original artefacts, books and documents all connected with the military history of Malta through the ages. Published ‘Fort Rinella and its Armstrong 100-ton gun’ (Midsea Books) in 2002 which has since been reprinted many times over. Currently working on a new museum dedicated to the subject of ‘Pirates and Corsairs in the Mediterranean’ at St Thomas Tower in Marsascala and the Operation Husky Museum at the Lascaris War Rooms in Valletta.